& Korean's  ©ream 

ana 

BH)at  Came  of 


By  Rev.  E.  M.  CABLE 


THE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Rindge  Literature  Department 

150  FIFTH  AVENUE.  NEW  YORK 


9 Korean’s  Bream 

and 

Wtyat  Came  of  3t 

HERE  is  a man  by  the  name 
of  Mr.  Kim-eung-soo  living 
in  a little  village  in  the 
province  of  Whoang-hai-do, 
in  the  northwestern  part 
of  Korea.  From  a Korean 
point  of  view  he  is  well-to-do,  and  he  has 
considerable  influence  and  authority  in 
his  own  village  and  neighborhood.  Late 
in  the  year  1901  he  had  occasion  to  go  to 
Chemulpo  on  business.  On  returning  home 
the  boat  in  which  he  was  being  conveyed 
encountered  a severe  storm,  and  the  little 
bark,  unable  to  weather  the  heavy  gale, 
was  forced  to  take  shelter  at  a village 
along  the  way.  The  storm  continued  to 
rage  for  three  days,  and  Mr.  Kim  was  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  in  one  of  the  village 
inns.  At  this  place  the  event  occurred 
that  has  changed  his  whole  life. 

The  first  night  Mr.  Kim  had  a very 
strange  dream,  and  like  Pharaoh  he  awoke 
the  next  morning  very  much  troubled  in 
mind,  but,  unlike  the  king  of  old.  he  had 
no  Joseph  at  hand  to  interpret  the  mys- 
terious vision.  There  were'  other  men  in 
the  inn  that  day,  but  none  of  them  knew 


of  the  anxiety  that  gnawed  away  at  Mr. 
Kim's  heart. 

The  strange  dream  was  as  follows: 
During  the  night  Mr.  Kim  saw  a man 
dressed  in  long  black  garments  and  wear- 
ing short  hair  approach  him  and  hand  him 
a book.  This  was  very  strange  to  Mr.  Kim, 
because  the  national  dress  of  the  Korean 
is  white,  and  they  wear  their  hair  long 
and  tied  up  in  a little  knot  on  the  top  of 
their  heads,  and  their  books  are  very 
much  different  from  the  one  the  dream 
visitor  had  handed  Mr.  Kim.  The  Koreans 
are  quick  to  attach  evil  interpretations  to 
dreams  and  to  let  them  pass  as  a mere 
matter  of  course,  but  this  dream  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  Mr.  Kim  and  he 
wanted  to  know  the  interpretation.  Mr. 
Kim  had  never  met  a missionary,  read  the 
Bible,  or  heard  the  Gospel  story.  He  was 
a heathen  living  in  all  the  darkness  and 
hopelessness  of  idolatry.  The  day  wore 
away  all  too  slowly  for  Kim. 

Toward  evening  it  happened  that  one 
of  our  Bible  colporters  was  also  driven  to 
this  same  village  by  the  storm,  which  had 
not  ceased  to  spend  its  violence.  For- 
tunately he  went  to  the  same  inn  in  which 
Mr.  Kim  was  staying.  The  two  men  met, 
but  nothing  was  said  until  after  they  had 
eaten  their  evening  meal,  when  the  Bible 
colporter  brought  out  his  books  and  began 
to  tell  the  wonderful  story  contained  there- 
in and  offered  them  for  sale.  The  col- 
porter in  the  course  of  his  preaching 
handed  a copy  of  the  New  Testament  to 


Mr.  Kim,  which  the  latter  took  and 
scanned  carefully. 

Mr.  Kim  listened  very  attentively  to  all 
the  colporter  had  to  say,  and  then  the  re- 
membrance of  his  mysterious  dream  flashed 
upon  him.  He  at  once  approached  the  col- 
porter and  told  him  his  dream.  The  col- 
porter listened  to  the  strange  story  with 
intense  interest,  and  when  Mr.  Kim  had 
finished  he  replied:  “O,  that  is  easy  to 
interpret.  I am  the  man  that  you  saw  in 
your  dream  last  night,  and  I have  been 
sent  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  speak  to  you 
and  sell  you  this  book.  You  must  now  be- 
come a Christian.  The  book  you  saw  was 
the  Bible.” 

This  was  a very  striking  coincidence. 
The  Bible  colporter  corresponded  to  the 
man  Mr.  Kim  had  seen  in  his  dream.  He 
wore  a long  black  coat  and  had  his  hair 
shorn.  He  presented  Mr.  Kim  a copy  of 
the  New  Testament  in  the  same  manner 
Mr.  Kim  had  seen  the  man  do  in  his 
dream. 

The  dream  was  now  no  longer  a mystery. 
Mr.  Kim  read  his  Bible,  and  after  hear- 
ing the  Gospel  story  from  the  lips  of  the 
colporter  at  once  decided  to  become  a 
Christian.  He  inquired  concerning  the 
Christian  life  and  what  he  would  be  re- 
quired to  do. 

Three  days  after  this  experience  the 
storm  had  ceased  and  Mr.  Kim  again  set 
out  for  home.  He  was  not  the  old  man 
any  more,  but  the  new  Mr.  Kim  who  had 
found  Jesus  in  such  a strange  way.  When 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/koreansdreamOOcabl 


Mr.  Kim  reached  his  own  village  again  he 
at  once  related  the  wonderful  story  of  his 
conversion  to  his  neighbors  and  showed 
them  the  little  volume  which  he  had  pur- 
chased. This  strange  proceeding  caused 
no  little  excitement  on  the  part  of  his 
neighbors. 

He  burned  the  representations  of  evil 
spirits  in  his  own  house,  and  then  went  out 
into  the  village  and  destroyed  the  fetiches 
in  a number  of  his  neighbor’s  houses.  He 
began  to  preach  in  the  village,  and  the  peo- 
ple all  gladly  listened  to  him.  He  was  a 
devoted  student  of  the  little  volume  he  had 
purchased,  and  the  neighbors  saw  that  he 
possessed  a peculiar  power.  His  counte- 
nance revealed  the  secret,  for  it  fairly 
beamed  with  the  love  of  God. 

Later  I visited  this  village,  and  I can- 
not express  the  joy  I experienced  in  find- 
ing all  the  families  of  this  village  Chris- 
tians except  one.  Before  I left  the  village 
I baptized  Mr.  Kim  and  twenty  of  his 
neighbors  and  received  a large  number  of 
probationers  into  the  church.  This  was 
the  first  time  a missionary  had  ever  visited 
Mr.  Kim's  village.  We  have  at  this  place 
one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  thriving 
churches  to  be  found  on  all  the  big  circuit. 
I appointed  Mr.  Kim  class  leader  here, 
and  he  has  done  a grand  and  noble  work 
for  God.  It  does  my  soul  good  to  meet 
with  him  and  hear  him  talk  and  pray. 

Think  wrhat  that  little  volume  Mr.  Kim 
sawr  in  his  dream  has  done  for  Korea.  A 
whole  village  converted  which  six  months 


before  was  the  abode  of  heathen  darkness. 
Not  only  that,  but  the  flame  he  kindled  is 
spreading,  and  in  time  all  the  neighbor- 
ing villages  will  feel  its  influence  and 
turn  to  Christ.  Only  the  light  of  eternity 
will  reveal  what  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Kim  has  done  for  the  world.  This  is 
only  one  of  many  interesting  examples  of 
how  the  Bible  reaches  the  hearts  of  the 
Koreans. 


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